Take Your Heart Back and Be Free
by Denaliyasha
Summary: O'Neill finally gets his head out of his six and asks someone why Sam isn't speaking to him after Edora... The Doc and Danny threaten in Latin and the world is right again.


Disclaimer: Sadly, not mine.

A/N: I've had this idea since I saw the episode… I loved it, because there was a great potential for ship afterwards, but they did nothing about it. Oh, my take on the regs: screw the regulations. In my opinion, their jobs are hazardous enough that it isn't fair that they can't date someone in the same chain of command because often they're the ones who understand you, and won't mind if you're gone for days on P3X something or another. I mean, come on. So, for the SGC (all personnel who go offworld, at least) the regulations no longer apply. This is my post episode to One Hundred Days.

Take Your Heart Back and Be Free

What was with everyone on base? Colonel O'Neill walked down one of the many identical corridors in the SGC, puzzling over this question. Daniel was avoiding him, only speaking briefly when required. Teal'c was being his usual courteous self, but there seemed to be a coolness behind his words that hadn't been there before. And Carter… Carter hadn't spoken to him since trying to explain to him how they got him back, and that was three weeks ago when they'd rescued him from Edora.

Carter wasn't just not speaking to him, she was avoiding him like the plague. She'd actually left the base, something that she usually had to be forced to do. O'Neill didn't like this, not at all. He needed to find out why Carter was so upset with him before he went into Sam-withdrawal. Janet would know! Sam confided in her. Congratulating himself on his own brilliance, the Colonel wandered down the halls towards the infirmary.

"Hey, Doc." He stuck his head into the room and paused. Daniel was sitting on one of the beds, and from the looks of it Jack had just interrupted a deep conversation.

Daniel frowned. "What do you want, Jack?"

O'Neill was taken aback. "No need to get all snippy on me, Spacemonkey!"

"SNIPPY?" Daniel was shouting now, up off the bed and glowering his friend. "I'm being SNIPPY? Well, excuse me. Next time you managed to strand your ass somewhere with good-looking girls, we won't bother trying to help you. And if you were looking for an apology for saving your sorry ass, you've got it. I wish we hadn't!"

He stalked out of the room, muttering, "Parvus peur."

Jack gaped at Janet. "Did he just insult me in Latin?"

She turned a frosty glare on him. "Yes, he did. And I'll do him one better. Interficiebo si noces suus peior."

"What?"

"Get a clue, Colonel." Janet was practically ready to kill someone. She took a few steps forward, and began poking him in the chest to punctuate every word. "Sam worked her butt off to get you back. She pulled 48 and 72 hour days for three months. She only slept when I drugged her coffee or when she literally fell asleep on her feet. She drank probably more coffee in a day than Daniel drinks in a year, all to create the only thing that had any hope of bringing you back within 5 years. Which, by the way, broke the laws of physics. And what do you do? You sleep with another woman, you blow off Sam to go talk to said woman, you tell that woman WHILE WITHIN SAM'S HEARING that you didn't want to go home, and you expect us all to love you? You need to think about someone other than yourself for a change. Get out of here." She shoved him hard through the door, slamming it behind him.

Jack stood in the corridor, lost in his own thoughts. She was right, wasn't she? He had slept with Laira (although he'd known that part), and he had blown off Sam's excited technobabble to go talk to Laira, and he had told Laira that he didn't want to leave. Damn, she'd heard that? He'd been hoping that she hadn't. That explained why she's been avoiding him. That'd also explain Daniel, Teal'c, and Janet. He'd hurt Sam, so they were upset at him. Oh, what a mess!

And what exactly had those two said in Latin? He'd taken basic Latin at some point, Daniel had called him a little boy and Janet had said something about killing him… Well, they were entitled to it. His mind got sidetracked for a minute. The Doc knew Latin? Just how much time was she spending with Daniel, anyway?

Oh, right, Sam. What to do to apologize to Sam… well, first things first. Find her. Lab. Yes, her lab was a good bet.

Sam looked up from whatever doohickey she was playing with when she heard his knock on the doorframe. Jack was shocked at what he saw. Her hair was messier than usual, and there were huge dark circles under her eyes. The sparkle that usually twinkled in her vibrant blue eyes and lit up his day was gone, leaving her gaze flat and bored. Had he done this to her?

"Did you want something, Sir?" Even her voice, which should have been excited about the machine in front of her, was completely dead.

"Er… yeah, can we talk?" He shifted nervously from foot to foot.

"Yes, Sir." She put down the tool she was holding and sat down on a stool. He walked hesitantly closer, stopping a few feet from the table and fiddling with a screw.

"Are you alright, Carter?"

"I'm just fine, Sir. Why do you ask?" The monotone voice seemed to mock him.

"Come on, Sam." Her eyes widened a little at his use of her first name. When she made no move to respond to his question, he sighed and went on. "Look, Sam, I'm sorry if you thought I was ungrateful. I slept with Laira because I was drunk and depressed, I blew you off because I didn't know how to react to you, and I told Laira what she wanted to hear. It's no excuse, but it's the only one I've got and I really would like to know what I could do to make this better so we can go back to how we used to be."

Sam's eyes flashed, and she finally lost the flat voice. "Back to the way we were? Sir, we were friends. Friends acknowledge each other. I don't think we can go back to that." She stood up and gestured at the door. "Let yourself out, Sir."

"Sam…" Jack moved to stand right in front of her. "I was wrong. I screwed up. I'm sorry. What more can I do?"

"You can leave, please, Sir. I'm considering switching off of SG-1 at the moment, because I can't work like that any more. It's just not working, Sir."

"Leave SG-1?" Jack couldn't believe it. "You can't!"

"Why not, Sir?" They were squared off against each other now. Sam radiated a cold fury and Jack was glowering down at her.

"Because you can't! I won't let you!"

"And why should I care what you think?" Her tone was calculated to annoy, and it was working.

"Because I love you, damn it!" He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth. Sam's mouth was hanging open.

"Sir?"

"Umm… I have to go." He turned to exit the lab, but she grabbed his arm.

"Don't go."

"What?"

"Please don't go, Sir." She licked her lips. "I, uh… I love you too."

His face brightened. "Really?"

She nodded. "Really. But I'm still pissed at you. I'm assuming Janet told you that I actually broke the laws of physics to get you back?"

Jack looked sheepish. "Yeah."

"You just walked past me. And it wasn't just me, Teal'c almost died trying to dig his way up through the rock, and Daniel worked just as hard trying to find an ally who had a ship that could be there before a year. And then you said you didn't want to go back…"

Noticing the tears in her eyes, Jack pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry. I said what she wanted to hear. I know that I shouldn't have said it, but I didn't think you'd hear. And I didn't mean it. I promise."

"She just… she got to live with you, be normal with you. It wasn't fair."

That was a little startling. "So, just how long do you think we've been… skirting around this issue?"

That got a laugh. "Too long."

Wrapping an arm around her waist, he started to usher her out of the room. "Let's go get blue jello and then let you get some sleep."

Sam grinned, then snapped a tired salute in his general direction. "Yes, Sir!"

A/N: Sorry if it seems out of character. Daniel said "Little boy" and Janet said "I'll kill you if you hurt her worse." Sorry if the latin is slightly off, I was using a dictionary and I'm not very far in my class yet, I just like using itcause the language is cool. Hope you liked it! Review please.


End file.
